Beneath Stillness, the Crust Breathes

[System Active – Chapter 00007]

Status: Rooted

Primary Objective: Survival

Secondary Directive: Data Acquisition

Mana Core Activity: Dormant

It’s been nearly four months since I first touched mana with intent. Since then, I’ve carved deeper into the crust—slowly, deliberately, with the patience of tectonic drift.

My roots now run down more than a hundred meters, spiraling and curving around hardened rock seams, probing soft pockets of sediment and skipping over unstable mineral layers. It’s not fast work. Not glorious. But it's steady. And it’s mine.

Most days—if they even are days—I don’t move at all. I just… listen. The further I go, the more sensitive I become to the world’s quiet murmurs. Heat pulses, pressure changes, buried echoes of long-dead magma rivers.

In that silence, I started noticing something else.

The world is changing.

It didn’t announce itself. No massive quake or rush of life. Just a hum. Not inside me this time, but in the earth. Subtle. Background. But new.

Mana flow, once a thin trickle absorbed passively, has begun to thicken in the deep rock layers. It still drifts, unclaimed. But it vibrates with a kind of tension now. A pressure I can’t fully measure. It's still raw, unrefined. But… it's not still anymore.

I suspect the plates are shifting again.

I’ve cross-referenced tremor pulses using my Subsurface Sensory Node. The rhythms are uneven now. What was once predictable—three sources, spaced and timed—has begun to distort.

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Vector One (southeast) has grown irregular, as if something beneath it is moving independently.

Vector Two (north) remains steady but faint. Less responsive than before.

Vector Three (west-northwest) pulses deeper now. Slower, heavier. Almost… breathing.

I recorded the changes. Updated fault geometry in my logbook. No conclusions yet.

But it unnerves me.

And yet, I grow.

Not because I’m confident. Not because I’m brave.

Because the only direction I have is downward.

My core, once dormant and hollow, now rests at 38.3% capacity. Not full, but far from empty. It vibrates now—not in pain, not in warning—but with potential. I’ve started categorizing its density manually in the logbook.

> Observation:

> Mana no longer disperses evenly. It condenses near the inner wall of the core before stabilizing. I believe this marks the beginning of some form of mana stratification. Possibly a prelude to crystallization—or worse, compression stress.

I’ve read no manuals. No mentors explain it.

But it feels like something is preparing to unfold.

I’ve become more cautious in my channeling now. I avoid sending mana too far beyond the edge of my reach. Not out of fear—resistance to danger is built into me—but because the deeper I dig, the more I sense that something below is awake.

Not alive.

But watching.

I don’t know if that makes sense. Maybe the solitude’s getting to me.

Still, I’ve held off expanding outward. Upward remains pointless. Lateral growth feels premature.

Instead, I focus on the path beneath.

And I wait.

[System Summary – End of Chapter 00007]

Root Expansion: +32.8m

Total Root Depth: 105.9m

Mana Saturation Rate: +0.07 m/hr

Trait Unlocked: None

Environmental Observations:

‣ Seismic Pattern Shift (Vector 1 irregular)

‣ Fault Rhythms Desynchronized

‣ Ambient Mana Pressure Increasing

Core Status: Dormant (38.3%)

Time Since Rebirth: ~6 months